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Arkangel
"Arkangel" is the second episode of Black Mirror's fourth season. It stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Brenna Harding, and Owen Teague. Production Prior to its release, co-creator Annabel Jones disclosed the following information about the episode: "This one’s like an indie movie set in blue-collar America, even though we filmed it in Canada. It follows a mother who has a young daughter and faces that perennial question of how to look after a child in an increasingly technical world; it taps into helicopter parenting… I always hope that whatever we tackle, it’s never on the nose and just more in the background but this episode asks how do you be a responsible mother in a world in which you can be all-powerful and omnipresent? How do you exercise responsibility? How do you ensure you give your child independence in a world in which you can have a lot of control? Charlie’s very technical – I’m a little bit technical – but none of these stories really ever have technology screaming down the lens. ArkAngel is a very human story. It was a really harmonious production and watching director Jodie Foster with the young actors was just a joy to behold." Overview Protective single mother Marie Sambrell (Rosemarie DeWitt) gives birth to her daughter Sara. Three years later, Sara goes missing one day at a playground, chasing after a cat. Marie becomes hysterical and calls out for Sara, but she is recovered shortly without incident. Fearing future crises, Marie signs up to participate in a limited-release free trial of Arkangel, a revolutionary tech-integrated child monitoring system. An Arkangel representative administers Sara a neural implant, which enables Marie to monitor her geolocation and medical state in real time via an included tablet computer. The representative also demonstrates an option to view Sara's immediate eyesight, record and replay everything she has seen, and censor obscenity and other stressful stimuli with pixelization and audio distortion. The Arkangel system proves initially successful, censoring an intimidating neighborhood dog; however, flaws in the system present themselves, such as the obscenity filter preventing Sara from reacting appropriately to her live-in grandfather's stroke (the program censors him, and Sara cannot hear him telling her to get the phone and call for help.) Years later, after her grandfather's death, Sara (Sarah Abbott) has become socially outcast and emotionally immature due to lack of exposure to stressful stimuli. She grows frustrated at being unable to view the contents of a shock site, to have its contents explained to her, or to even illustrate blood on paper. That evening, she pricks her finger with a pencil in an attempt to produce blood, and slaps her mother when she attempts to stop her. Marie has her assessed by a child psychologist, who concludes that the now-controversial and soon-to-be-banned Arkangel is responsible. Though the implant itself cannot be removed, he convinces Marie to deactivate the obscenity filter and stow the tablet away. Sara goes to school unsupervised for the first time, where her schoolmate Trick (Nicky Torchia) exposes her to gore, internet pornography and terrorist beheadings. At age fifteen, Sara (Brenna Harding), now well-adjusted and popular, secretly attends a party with Trick (Owen Teague) at a nearby lake, telling Marie that she is going to a friend's house. Marie grows concerned after Sara fails to answer phone calls and her schoolmates' parents don't know her whereabouts, and she reactivates the Arkangel tablet in a panic, only to discover Sara and Trick having sex. Some time later, Marie, having grown distrustful of her daughter, uses the Arkangel tablet again and sees Sara snorting cocaine with Trick. Identifying Trick with a reverse image search, Marie uses the footage to intimidate and blackmail him into breaking up with Sara and cutting her off with no explanation. Later, the tablet informs Marie that Sara is pregnant, and she sneaks an emergency contraceptive pill into her drink at breakfast. After vomiting due to the pill and discovering the reactivated tablet in Marie's bedroom, Sara realizes what Marie has done and confronts her. She pries the tablet from Marie's hands, accidentally reactivating the obscenity filter, and beats Marie unconscious with the tablet until it breaks. The filter deactivates moments later and Sara sees what she has done. A dazed Marie reawakens and frantically calls Sara's name down the street, mirroring her reaction to Sara's disappearance twelve years earlier. Meanwhile, having fled the scene, Sara flags down a semi truck for a ride. As Sara enters the truck and closes the door the scene cuts to black as both we and Marie lose Sara. Cast *Rosemarie DeWitt - Marie Sambrell *Brenna Harding - Sara Sambrell **Aniya Hodge - Sara (age 3) **Sarah Abbott - Sara (age 9) *Nicholas Campbell - Russ Sambrell *Owen Teague - Ryan Tribecky **Nicky Torchia - Trick (age 9) Trivia *In Black Museum, one of the museum exhibits is the smashed Arkangel tablet Marie owned. *The tablet's interface for Arkangel is very similar to the one used by the grain technology in The Entire History of You. *Posters for Tusk (a rapper who became the second victim of the ADIs in Hated in the Nation) and Harlech Shadow (from Playtest) can be seen in the teenage Sara's bedroom. *A lunchbox displaying Waldo can be seen Marie takes Sara to the playground in her buggy. *The video Sara watches to test the filter is Raiman shooting from Men Against Fire. Trailer Black Mirror - Arkangel Official Trailer HD Netflix Black Mirror Featurette Arkangel Netflix Category:Season 4 Episodes Category:Arkangel Category:Episodes